Missing Scott

Ignoring the quarterback mess for a second, the Raiders will be without underrated defensive end Trevor Scott Sunday against the Dolphins. He tore his ACL against the Steelers and, while he only had 1.5 sacks this season, happily agreed to switch back and forth between outside linebacker and defensive end and his motor always ran high.

The third-year veteran, who tied for the team lead in sacks each of the last two seasons, was also a key member of Oakland’s special teams.

“I think it’s huge,” Raiders coach Tom Cable said. “We’ve been fortunate to not lose too many guys like this. He does do a lot for our football team, playing in base defense as well as third down and (on) a number of special teams. It’s a big loss but we’re going to have to rally.”

Matt Shaughnessy (5 sacks) will replace Scott in Oakland’s starting lineup, and the Raiders also might use outside linebackers Quentin Groves and Bruce Davis at defensive end. They also signed free agent Jarvis Moss, who was released by the Denver Broncos last week, but Cable hasn’t said if he will be active this week.

While Scott only had the 1.5 sacks and five quarterback hurries, Cable said he played a big part in the Raiders’ 29 sacks (fourth in the NFL).

“(Scott’s) tempo, his effort to the quarterback has pushed that quarterback to a lot of sacks with the other guys,” Cable said. “They’ve benefited from Trevor’s effort, no question.”

Smelling salts: Some of you asked about Shane Lechler using smelling salts in the Pitssburgh game (I guess the TV announcers made a big deal out of it).

“The ammonia?” the punter said. “It’s nothing I haven’t been doing for the last seven years, something a lot of players in this league do before every series. There must not have been anything else to talk about.”